Young Justice: Countdown
by Dramamamapwnsall
Summary: The Reach may be gone, but the Light continues to control the world from behind the scenes. Dick is left adrift, tormented by guilt. M'Gann discovers what, exactly, she must do to save her homeworld from demolition. Artemis has a secret that could change everything. Bart just wants to go home. But still, the day must be saved while the clock ticks down... Three, two, one... BOOM.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Young Justice, I'm simply attempting to make up for the fact that the FREAKING THING ENDED ON THAT NOTE!**

**So yeah, I'm writing a thing. Read it if you want.**

**Watchtower**

**July 6, 5:43 AM EDT**

M'Gann leaned against the doorway in Gar's room. He hadn't quite finished moving into the new room in the Watchtower, but already there were some posters and pictures on the walls. She fondly noted one of the two of them at the zoo. They'd gone on a rainy day; he'd worn a long jacket and a baseball cap low on his face. It had been one of her best days on Earth. "Are you packed?"

"Yup!" The boy ran towards her excitedly. "All ready to go to Mars. We're going to have so much fun. It's our first family vacation!"

"Easy there. We're not just going to have fun, we don't know what kind of trouble will be waiting for us."

"Come on! I'll get to see where you grew up, and meet your friends, and we'll have fun!"

"Well, hopefully there will be a chance for me to meet up with my brothers and my sisters, I'd hate to go all the way back to Mars and not see them."

"See, now you're talking!"

Gar dragged his over-stuffed suitcase out of the room and down the hall while M'Gann floated after him.

Conner stood waiting at the end of the hallway. "Are you guys ready?" M'Gann nodded.

"Yeah! Let's go, let's go!" Gar cried, jumping from foot to foot.

"You are way too energetic for six in the morning." M'Gann sighed.

The trio walked through the hallway. Although the hallway was quite large, the three huddled together, still rather uncomfortable in the Watchtower. It was too quiet, too cold, too sterile, after the Cave.

They crossed towards the zeta tube, only to be stopped when they heard a voice.

"You guys didn't think you could leave without saying goodbye, did you?"

The three turned to see Artemis, Kaldur, Bart, Tim, Barbara, and Cassie standing behind them. "Hey! You didn't have to get up this early!" M'Gann smiled.

"Of course we did! You're leaving for Mars, we have to say goodbye!" Cassie said.

"It's not like we'll never see you guys again."

"But still," Cassie smiled and reiterated, "We _have _to say goodbye."

"Yeah, you're going out into space. The final frontier. To boldly go where no man has gone before..." Cassie gently put her hand on Tim's arm.

"Honey..."

"No?"

"No."

"Anyways," Artemis cut in, "We just wanted to wish you luck with... whatever it is you'll be doing there." Artemis was balancing a few boxes, filled with stuff she was planning to move into her new room.

"That's so nice!" M'Gann smiled.

The truth was, the whole group didn't know what the trio would be arriving to, what they would have to deal with, and when or if they'd be coming back.

And they all knew, too well now, that life was a very fragile thing.

The launch was actually going to be from Earth, as a simple Martian ship returning home would not attract as much attention as one launched from the Watchtower would.

Earth was not open to relations with aliens, especially after the Reach issue, and there had been quite a bit of attention focused on the Watchtower. If a stray star-gazer managed to catch a glimpse of a spaceship leaving the Watchtower, that would open a whole new can of worms about how the League was associated with unfriendly aliens, etc. etc.

M'Gann stepped into the zeta tube. The engines began to hum, the lights began to glow... Before they shut off completely.

M'Gann sighed as it proclaimed a failure to read. "This is getting irritating." Almost all of the zetas had been malfunctioning, since the original system was built out of Mount Justice, the system was having to reroute itself.

Barbara typed a few buttons into the computer, and the zeta rebooted, the engines turning back on.

M'Gann, Gar, and Conner stepped into the zeta. M'Gann half-waved, before the zeta hummed to life and sent them along.

Bart yawned. "Well, that was all fun, but I think I'm going to go back to be-"

He was cut off as red lights flashed from the ceiling and an alarm began to blare.

"That- That can't be right, that's from the zeta station they just went to..." Barbara said, before they all raced for the tubes, Artemis only pausing for a moment to scoop up a quiver of arrows and a collapsable bow from one of her boxes.

**Somewhere in Kansas**

**July 6, 4:58 AM, CDT**

The sight that greeted them was astounding.

Half of the field the bioship was waiting in was on fire, which was threatening to spread to the nearby woods. The ship itself was flipping across the field, propelled by a string of explosions.

"What on Earth-"

Cassie pointed towards a lake in the distance. "Aqualad!" Kaldur immediately began to funnel the water towards the fire, putting it out.

Tim and Barbara began tossing grenades, while Artemis fired arrows, both of which released the white foam found in fire extinguishers.

Cassie and Conner ran after the ship, trying to stop it.

M'Gann lay on her side, her hands pressed to her head. The damage to the bioship was damage to her as well. Gar sat next to her, frantically trying to help.

Bart ran circles around the flames, sucking away oxygen.

"Look out!"

Artemis ducked away from the flaming tree that had almost fallen on her. The fire had spread to the forest.

Bart moved away from them to begin circling the trees, but to no avail. He cried out as the flame licked at his arm, burning away his costume and singeing his arm.

Conner and Cassie finally managed to catch the ship, but M'Gann was already whimpering, her skin having turned at paler, sickly green.

Kaldur was panting. The air was hot and dry, no matter how much water he funneled towards the fire. He grit his teeth as he heard M'Gann cry out in pain, managing to douse a large section of the flames.

Artemis bit her lip as she fired her last trick arrow. Her hair was singed, she could barely breathe through the smog, and her eyes were stinging from the smoke. The wall of fire was advancing on her, and she staggered backwards, looking for something else she could use to stop it. Suddenly, beside her, a grenade exploded with more white powder, courtesy of Tim.

"What the hell are these?" Barbara shouted.

Another set of explosions sent her flying backwards. Tim landed several yards away from her. "Bombs."

It took a half hour for all of the explosions to stop, and another hour for the Team to get the fires under control.

After that was taken care of, the majority of the Team headed back to the Watchtower to get treated for burns. Barbara and Artemis decided to stay behind to see if they could figure out what the hell had happened.

They spent a couple minutes throwing rocks to check that all of the bombs were detonated, then got to work looking at shrapnel.

"IEDs," Artemis announced. Barbara nodded grimly. improvised explosive devices.

"Chances are this was some small-time villain. Someone with more experience would have had access to the bigger stuff," Barbara said.

"I don't know..." Artemis's voice was thoughtful. "Can't be too small-time, otherwise they'd never have found the airfield."

Barbara nodded. "I've gotten enough samples. I just need to take them to the lab for analysis."

"Let's head out, then."

**Watchtower**

**July 6, 8:08 AM EDT**

M'Gann lay on one of the beds in the Watchtower's medical center, unconscious. She was hooked up to several IVs to keep her hydrated, and her skin was covered in a thick yellow salve to treat her burns.

"She'll be fully recovered in four hours," Red Tornado informed the members of the team who were being treated.

Cassie was dabbing at a cut on Tim's face with antibiotic, Kaldur was drinking water in the corner, Conner and Gar were sitting next to M'Gann, and Bart was taking a run around the Watchtower.

"I'm okay," Barbara insisted as she got checked out. "I need to get to work."

After she and Artemis got clean bills of health, she headed off to the Watchtower's lab.

"Can't even leave the Watchtower without causing mass panic, such fabulous heroes, aren't they?" Karen teased as she, Malcolm, and Virgil walked in.

"Hey, we still can kick your butts any day of the week," Cassie joked back, gently applying a bandage to one of Tim's cuts.

"I'd like to see you try," Malcolm responded, putting on fake bravado.

"Yeah, we could take them, right Virgil?" Karen asked, gently elbowing Virgil, who was standing to the side rather awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah, sure," He said softly. The boy was still very uncomfortable around most of the team, having only bonded with Karen, who had been helping him figure out his powers.

"Seriously, though, we're glad you're alright," Karen added, smiling.

"We just wanted to make sure you guys were okay, we're going to train," Virgil told them. "C'mon, Kay." Karen and Virgil continued through the med-bay to the hallway on the other side of the room.

Malcolm watched them go, a concerned look on his face. "Yeah, we're all glad you're okay," he reiterated softly before quickly turning back through the door he came in.

Artemis stretched and stood. "I'm going to go back home," she announced, before heading towards the zeta.

Conner grunted in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to M'Gann, who was still soundly sleeping, listening to the noises of the Watchtower. M'Gann's heartbeat was soft but steady. Further out, he could hear the steady clack-clack of Barbara typing at the computer, the zetas humming to life to take Artemis home, and the thumping of Bart jogging around the Watchtower.

Bart's version of jogging was just under breaking the sound-barrier. He always claimed to feel invigorated after a big struggle like that, and after loading up on some Cheese Whiz, he was ready to go.

(And yes, he ate it straight out of the can. He didn't see what the big deal was, or why his grandmother was always scolding him for it. He came from a post-apocalyptic world, table manners weren't that big of a deal.)

He heard the zeta announce Blue Beetle. He hardly knew what his feet were doing before he was standing in front of Jaime.

"Hey, hermano! What'cha been up to?"

Jaime frowned. "Bart, you're burned up!"

Bart looked down. His uniform was seared in several places, and, admittedly, there were some bad burns on his back and shoulders. But back home, a uniform in this condition was still good. Better than good, even.

"It's nothing. So, do you want to go to the arcade?"

Jaime had brought him to his local arcade last week to try to take his mind off of Wally, and Bart had decided that he must beat the top high score on every game.

"You need medical treatment!" Jaime insisted.

Bart frowned and shook his head. "You know me, I'll heal quickly."

'The Impulse is afraid.'

Jaime frowned at the computerized voice. Bart hadn't been afraid of him since they'd unprogrammed the Scarab.

He reviewed the conversation. The pheromones of fear, the pounding heart, the tight muscles... they hadn't come until later, after he'd mentioned medical treatment.

Oh. Bart must not like hospitals. There was probably some horrific reason that the Scarab had caused.

"If you want, I'll get some stuff from the med-bay?" Jaime suggested.

Bart's heartbeat slowed, his muscles released their tension. "Sounds like a plan, hermano!"

Jaime walked into the med-bay, asking how everyone was, if they were all okay, and snuck a tub of the same salve they'd used on M'Gann into his pocket, before turning back to the hallway.

"I got it!"

Bart smiled at him and took the medicine. After dabbing it on the spots on his chest and shoulders, he paused. "Uh..."

Jaime asked, "Want me to get your back?"

"Sure." Bart handed over the medicine, and Jaime couldn't help but notice just how tense Bart was as he put the medicine on his back.

"Let's head to the arcade now, eh, hermano?"

Jaime laughed. "You really want to beat that skee-ball machine, don't you?"

"Not to mention, that square pizza is odd, yet surprisingly delicious."

Jaime paused for a moment, taking in the other boy's red-brown hair, his bright green eyes, his freckled skin... And his singed shirt.

"Um, Bart?"

"Yeah?"

"You may want to change out of your uniform first."

"Oh! Excellent idea!"

Bart raced off towards his room, while Jaime waited. He felt warmth racing into his cheeks, before he shook his head, cursing and reminding himself that he didn't have a shot with Bart, who probably had some hot girlfriend waiting for him in the future.

**Palo Alto**

**July 6, 6:03 AM, PDT**

Artemis rubbed her eyes. She hadn't slept well the past few nights. She'd been staying with her mother, allowing her to take care of her.

She looked at her watch. She'd been standing outside of the house for almost twenty minutes, not wanting to go in. Zatanna had picked up Nelson, taking the dog for the past several weeks, so she'd be entering an empty house.

She sighed, then cursed. She didn't want to go in. Going in would mean that she was accepting this house as her own. Her own without Wally.

Artemis put a hand to her face. Her mother had told her she could stay with her, and it had been a relief to just sit in the living room, catching up on all of the ridiculous TV shows she'd been missing, (Evil underwater submarines didn't come with cable) and making new arrows. She'd made hundreds of them. It occupied her time, working on the complex trick arrows. And when a particularly interesting episode of America's Next Top Model came on, she would simply go through the soothing, methodical motions of making her normal arrows. Which was completely ridiculous, considering she was Tigress now, and Tigress fought with a sword.

But she'd had enough of her pity party. She had to get her life back in order, and that meant getting her apartment back in order.

She had no doubt that the place would be a pigsty. Wally was not known for his housekeeping abilities, and she was sure that the empty take-out boxes and unwashed dishes waiting for her would not be improved by two weeks of neglect.

Maybe it would have been a good idea to bring someone with her, but Artemis knew this was something she wanted to do alone.

She needed to get used to being alone. Her whole life as a hero, she'd never been alone. She'd been part of a team. Even as a civilian, she'd had Wally there, Wally whose very presence made the idea of shoplifting those jeans she wanted seem absolutely ridiculous, Wally who smiled if she managed to refrain from cursing, Wally who was proud of every night she didn't need to sleep with a knife under her pillow.

Wally had kept her sane, making it possible for her to imagine a life where she didn't need to fight to see the next morning, where she could relax. Where she could be safe.

She was going to have to figure out how to be safe by herself now.

After another moment of staring at the Welcome mat as if she expected it to start talking to her, she reached in her pocket, and pulled out her key.

**Gotham City**

**July 6, 10:49 AM, EDT**

"I can't believe you actually support this!" Dick Grayson glared at his adoptive father. "It's not like people would have a problem believing he died in one of the natural disasters!"

"This wasn't my decision. If the Wests don't want to have him declared dead, without a body there isn't much I can do."

"He deserves a funeral!"

"The proof that Wally died is all connected to him being Kid Flash. The only thing I could do is have him declared missing. And that's not my decision to make. If his parents don't want to tell the world that he's dead, that's not our business."

"This is shit! Wally gave his life for the League, he deserves some recognition."

"The League put up the statue"

"Which is hidden away from the rest of the world! Just like when Tula and Jason died, you won't tell the world what they've done."

"Wally knew that this was how it worked, Dick. Maybe you need to remember that Wally made his decisions." Bruce's face softened. "It's a good thing you're taking this break. You need to get away from all this for a while. Take some time, think through all of this."

Dick turned away, sharply. He was acutely aware of the fact that not ten feet from where he was standing in Bruce's office, he and Wally had once set off a paint bomb, leaving them both bright pink for a week.

"But Dick," Bruce continued, putting a hand on Dick's shoulder. "You know you can always come home."

Dick was mortified to feel tears spring in his eyes, and was once again grateful for the sunglasses he always wore.

**El Paso**

**July 6, 9:28 AM, MST**

Bart laughed as Jaime jumped foot to foot, looking embarrassed.

"I guess I didn't realize they wouldn't be open until nine-thirty," Jaime apologized again.

"Ah, no worries," Bart shrugged. "I don't mind waiting."

Good thing, too. The pair had seen the sign announcing the hours around six, and had decided to walk around El Paso to kill time. Jaime had been pointing out the different places around town, when Bart saw the playground.

He'd zoomed across the street, and by the time Jaime got there, he had already gone across the monkey bars, down the slide, and was swinging lazily.

Jaime didn't need to ask why. In post-apocalyptic futures, there probably weren't too many playgrounds.

He had sat next to Bart on the swings, and after a few moments, Bart had jumped up and began pushing him, making Jaime laugh. Afterwards, Jaime had spun Bart around on the old-fashioned metal merry-go-round.

"You know, I think they were supposed to get rid of these. These merry-go-rounds aren't really safe," Jaime said, slowing it down.

Bart raised an eyebrow. "We're superheroes. I think I'm okay."

"Good point," Jaime laughed.

After spending two hours playing like little kids, they were heading back to the arcade.

"Hey, hermano?"

Jaime turned towards Bart, and was shocked to find that in the second he did, he felt a pair of lips brushing his cheek.

"Thanks for taking my mind off of things."

Jaime nodded, blushing. He was confused. Was this a future thing? Did they just kiss as a sign of friendship? But even if they did, Bart knew enough about today's culture to know how Jaime would take that. Did he mean for him to take it that way? Or was he just craving some affection? After all, his cousin dying was causing a strain on him, even if he appeared to be fine.

He cast a glance at Bart, who was walking along, not a care in the world.

Jaime decided to test this. Gently, he reached for Bart's hand.

Bart didn't protest, he simply intertwined their fingers.

**Watchtower**

**July 6, 11:58 AM, EDT**

Cassie and Tim sat together in her room. "I guess we're going to have to recheck the airfield, huh?" She sighed.

"Yeah. Got any ideas on who it could be?" Tim asked.

"...No. The detective stuff is kind of more your speed," Cassie shrugged. "You're thinking of something, aren't you?"

"I dunno. It's just a theory, I haven't looked at any of the remains from the bombs, or any of the patterns... But just from what it looked like, it's kind of similar to what Sportsmaster used to use. Before he upgraded that is."

"So..."

"So, maybe he taught Cheshire a few tricks?"

"Isn't she retired? At least from stuff like that?"

"You never can tell with those types, you know? Besides, she could have been hired by someone."

Cassie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

In the med-bay, Garfield glared at Conner. "Hey, I need to talk to you."

"Yeah?" Conner raised his eyes to meet the boy's.

"I don't know what's going on between you and M'Gann right now, but you need to know that if you're just going to dump her again, then just leave her alone."

"Look, I'm not planning on hurting her."

"But she's my sister, and I'm telling you, I'm not going to let you hurt her." Gar's face was stern, his eyes dark. Conner had rarely seen the little guy like that. "I need to know you have good intentions."

"I wouldn't hurt her."

"I'm just saying, if you do, I'll go monkey on your ass."

"Don't swear," M'Gann groaned, sitting up.

"Oh, hey! You're up!" Gar grinned, completely cheerful again.

"I guess I am," she mumbled. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yup!" Gar said. "Barbara's doing some work analyzing the explosives, but we managed to put the fire out and no one was badly injured."

"That's good." M'Gann's eyes drifted shut again, and soon, she was asleep again.

Gar looked at Conner seriously. "I'm just saying, she doesn't deserve to be jerked around, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

**Somewhere in Kansas**

**July 6, 4:39 PM CDT**

Tim and Barbara paced the outskirts of the airfield. Barbara tossed a little mechanical device into the center of the field, and the two turned away.

Several minutes later, they turned back. "Well, if it hasn't detected anything by now, we should be okay." Barbara typed a message into a communicator, and soon Alpha squad was picking their way across the charred field.

"So, we're good?" Gar asked.

Tim nodded. "Looks like it."

M'Gann, Conner, and Gar carefully made their way towards the bio-ship. M'Gann ran her hands against the wall of the ship, and reported, "Yeah, I think she's okay."

"We're set, then?" Conner asked.

M'Gann nodded. The trio waved to Barbara and Tim as they walked aboard the ship.

Tim and Barbara sighed. "I hope they'll be okay," Barbara grimaced.

"I'm sure they will be."

Barbara gave him a look that clearly said, 'We thought Wally would be okay too.'

Tim just nodded.

**El Paso**

**July 6, 8:54 PM, MST**

"So, after eighteen thousand, seven hundred, twenty-nine games, are you ready to call quits?" Jaime asked.

Bart sighed. "I can create a machine that bends time and space, and I can't even beat Skee Ball." He shook his head sadly. "But yeah, we should head out. I want to check on Artemis, she was moving back in today."

"Oh." Jaime looked down.

"But, hey, I'll see you tomorrow?" Bart asked, his face hopeful.

"Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

**Bioship**

**July 7, 12:08 AM, EST**

_"Look, we just can't be associated with someone like you."_

_"It's nothing personal, you know."_

_"Fuckin' whities."_

_She and her brother, curled up together while their siblings participated in a game for green martians only._

_Crying because the others wouldn't include her._

_Her parents being forced to separate._

_A man spitting on her in the streets, screaming obscenities_

"So, how far out are we?" M'Gann shook herself out of her memories, and turned to Gar.

"Oh, about three days."

"I can't wait to see Mars!" He exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his seat.

M'Gann nodded softly.

"Are you okay?" Conner asked.

"Yeah. I am."

"You sure?"

M'Gann gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm positive."

And she was sure that in that moment, she was fine. But she also knew what to expect when she arrived at Mars. Her own family had been torn apart by the racism. She didn't want Gar and Conner to see the way she was degraded. She didn't want them to change the way they saw her. She didn't want them to see her as a second-class citizen.

She really didn't want to see what they'd say when they met her family.

**Bludhaven**

**July 7, 1:19 AM, EST**

Dick sat on his bed, his head in his hands. He heard a small noise, and looked up at his window. Several moments later, Barbara appeared on his fire escape. "Hey." She opened the window and climbed in.

Dick didn't say anything to her.

"How are you?" Barbara sat down next to him.

Silence.

"So, we're almost done with analysis on the bombs."

"What bombs?"

Barbara smiled, that caught his attention. "There were some bombs in the airfield. I figured you'd want to know."

"Why would I care?"

"Because I know you, and as soon as you're through mourning, you're going to come back to us."

Dick glared at her. "You don't know that."

Barbara put her hand on his shoulder. "Dick, it's okay. Everyone's shocked, no one expects you to bounce back right away."

"But I'm still expected to bounce back."

Barbara bit her lip. "We just want you to be okay."

"We?"

"Bruce is worried about you."

"And you're checking up on me?"

Barbara shook her head. "Actually, I'm under strict orders to avoid you and give you your space."

"You can't believe Bruce isn't going to find out."

"I know he will. But I had to see you anyways."

Dick rested his head against her shoulder. "I just... I pushed him too hard. He and Artemis were retired. They didn't want to be involved anymore. And if I hadn't forced them..."

"Then they would have come anyways once they found out about the problem."

"But maybe..."

"I know."

And she did know. Barbara was the one person in the world who knew that Wally was his first friend, his best friend, that losing him was like losing Jason and Tula and his family all over again, and how it felt to be responsible when a friend dies.

Wally had been his brother. He was the first one he'd told his secret identity to, the first person to ever know both sides of Dick Grayson.

And Wally had pushed him away, Wally had been angry, Wally had never said he'd forgiven Dick. Wally had walked away from the hero life, and when Dick asked him to come back, he walked away from Dick.

Dick pulled her closer, so that suddenly she was in his lap. He buried his face in her neck and drew in a deep, shaky breath. It was the closest he'd come to crying in years. Barbara didn't need him to be strong for her. Barbara didn't insist upon constant control. He didn't have to pretend to be the smooth, confident playboy ward of a billionaire, or the calm and steady leader of the Team. He could just be himself, in a way he hadn't been able to for a long time.

Barbara pressed her lips to his forehead and whispered promises that she'd always be there.

**Dakota City**

**July 7, 12:45 AM CDT**

Raquel pushed the door to her apartment open. "Hey."

"How did it go?" Zatanna asked from her seat on the couch. She was partially engrossed in some talk show, but reached for the remote to mute it.

"Awful, as per usual."

"Did you give him the ring back?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't pretty. He started crying, and kept repeating how much better it would be for Amistad for his parents to be married..."

"You did the right thing." Zatanna stood, and laced her fingers together with Raquel's. "It's much better for a baby to live in a home with parents who love one another, rather than ones who are only together for convenience."

Raquel nodded, and rested her head against her girlfriend's shoulder. "I just wish I hadn't been so stupid and let things go this far."

Zatanna pressed a kiss to Raquel's forehead. "Don't worry about it, babe. It's fine."

Raquel sighed, and put her free hand on Zatanna's waist. "I should have broken things off as soon as I realized I wasn't happy. But I was pregnant, and Noble promised things would be okay, that we'd be a family... What if Noble doesn't want anything to do with Amistad now?"

"Honey, we're our own family," Zatanna told her. "And even if Noble doesn't see that, Amistad's got enough people in his life who love him and will take care of him."

Raquel nodded slowly.

"How was he? Did he give you any trouble?"

"Out like a light by eight. Just like you said."

"So we've got, what, six hours until he's up?"

"Sure seems like it." Raquel smirked, then kissed Zatanna, hard.

**Palo Alto**

**July 7, 5:31 AM PST**

Artemis pushed her hair from her forehead. She'd been up for more than twenty four hours, packing Wally's stuff in boxes. She knew she'd never be able to throw it away. She had already called and rented a storage unit, she figured she'd just leave it all there.

Bart had shown up the night before, bringing her take-out and insisting she eat it, and had tried to help her. But she had wanted to do this on her own, and she was going to deal with it her own way.

She walked into the bedroom. She'd already been there, around three she'd decided that she needed something more comfortable, and pulled on one of Wally's old t-shirts. She had, in her sleep deprived haze, decided to simply incorporate all of his clothes into her own wardrobe, so there was no need to clean out the dresser. She opened the drawer of his bedside table, ignoring the picture he'd had on there of them rolling around in the snow, courtesy of Dick.

She began piling the stuff into boxes. He'd used the drawer as a miniature souvenir case, keeping their college acceptance letters, papers they'd gotten high scores on, a picture of her leading the archery team to Nationals...

Her hand bumped something solid. She pulled out the little box.

The little velvet box.

The little velvet box that most likely contained...

She flipped it open.

A ring.

Artemis's eyes filled with tears and she slumped down against the bed, dropping the box. Her breath was coming in short gasps, her body limp.

With trembling hands, she picked the box up again. She pulled the ring out. It was a simple gold band. On the inside, there was an inscription.

'To my Spitfire. Til death do us part.'

The ring clattered to the ground while Artemis wrapped her arms around her chest, where her heart felt like it was going to burst out.

"Wa...lly..."

**Did I make you cry? I made my editor cry. Speaking of which, I love you Chris!**

**Peace out girlscout!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Royal University Research Labs**

**July 8, 9:39 PM, PDT**

There was an empty hallways in an empty building in Royal University, where Lex Luthor had funded a research project.

In the hallway, a light flickered on and off, the bulb close to burning out.

There was a scuffling sound from the ceiling, and a vent cover fell out. Before it could hit the ground, a black gloved hand reached out from the vent and grabbed it. A moment later, Barbara lowered herself down out of the vent, followed by Jaime and Tim.

She pressed her finger to her ear. "All clear?"

Malcolm's voice crackled through. "All security tapes on this floor have been set to loop the last fifteen minutes of footage. You have until then to get out."

"That's all we need," Barbara said, walking quickly toward a door at the far end of the hallway.

Tim moved forward when they reached the door, a key in his hand.

"Do I even want to know where you got a key for this place?" Jaime asked.

Barbara and Tim both shook their heads.

"Okay," Jaime shrugged.

Once they were in the room, Barbara sat down at the computer, and pulled out a flash drive. She plugged it into the USB port, and began to download the information from the computer.

"Hurry up," Tim hissed, glancing at his watch. "We've only got eight minutes left."

"It can only download so fast," She snapped back.

Tim sighed in annoyance.

"Uh, guys," Jaime interrupted. "Someone's here."

The two bats looked up in surprise.

"Here?"

"You're sure?"

Jaime nodded. "I can hear them."

"Let's go," Tim said.

"It's not done yet," Barbara snapped back.

The two Bats hadn't been getting along well since Dick left, both of them missing him too desperately to even try acting civil.

"Can't you make it go faster?"

"No!" The two still manage to keep their voices at almost silent whispers.

"They're getting closer..."

"There." Barbara pulled out the flash drive. Tim had already crouched on a counter and was unscrewing the vent.

"Hurry up!"

Tim, Barbara, and Jaime barely managed to get the cover back in place, before the door opened.

The three crawled through the cramped vents at a break-neck but almost silent speed, until they reached the rooftop of the ten story building. They leaped from building to building, hiding behind chimneys whenever anyone passed by, until they had lowered themselves onto a one story building at the edge of the campus.

"I'm heading home," Jaime said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Barbara and Tim nodded. As Jaime flew away, Tim and Barbara ran through the woods towards a zeta tube.

Tim turned to Barbara. "So, what now?"

"If you don't mind, could you take the flash drive to the Watchtower and start the analysis? I have something to take care of."

"No problem," Tim mumbled.

Tim stepped through the zeta. Barbara waited until he was gone before she reached into her belt and pulled out a cell phone. She dialed a number and smiled softly.

"Hey, sorry I didn't answer any of your texts. I had a thing."

"Yeah, I figured." Dick sounded tired. "You want to come over?"

"I need to be on monitor duty in two hours, but until then, sure."

**Gotham City**

**July 9, 1:13 AM, EDT**

Dick spoke into his cell phone. "Look, can you just go check on her? She hasn't returned any of my calls, and I'm worried that she's-" There was a knock on the door. "Hold on, Bart." He opened the door. "Hey, Barbara."

The red-head smiled. "Who's on the phone?"

"Bart. He's checking on Artemis for me."

Barbara nodded.

"Just... Give me a sec." He brought the phone back to his mouth. "I have to go."

"Sure." Bart hung up, and Dick turned towards Barbara. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know. Same old, same old." She put her hands on her hips. She'd changed out of her uniform into a blue t-shirt and black leggings, and pulled her hair into a ponytail. "How about you? You're up late."

"I'm just working."

"On what?"

"Wayne Enterprise is expanding, and I'm looking over some figures."

"I thought Bruce was giving you a break?"

"Bruce doesn't know I'm doing the work."

Barbara frowned. "You'll work yourself to death, you know."

"And what about you? When's the last time you got a full eight hours?"

Barbara raised an eyebrow. "Don't change the subject."

"I'm just saying, to each his own."

Barbara rolled her eyes. "Do you want some coffee?" Dick offered.

"I'd love some."

The two both knew they'd be up for a while longer.

**Watchtower**

**July 9, 1:21 AM, EDT**

Tim sat at the computer, typing frantically. The flash-drive sat in the USB port, but the download had, in an effort not to lose any information, included the firewalls and traps that protected all of the research.

"Hey, good lookin', what's cookin'?" Cassie walked into the room, smiling.

"I'm busy," Tim mumbled.

"Oh?" Cassie put her hands on his shoulders. "With what?"

"Trying to get into this thing."

"Can't you ask Batgirl?" Cassie offered. "Shouldn't she be helping you with that?"

"She said she had a personal errand to run. Batman's not going to be too thrilled when he hears about this."

"You'd report her?" Cassie seemed mildly surprised. "Isn't she your sister or something?" Despite knowing Tim's name, she was not privy to much personal information. Batman's orders.

"Cameras," Tim said. He nodded to the aforementioned objects which were oscillating three-hundred and sixty degrees, keeping a full watch on the room.

"I wouldn't mind doing her a favor every once in a while, but she keeps pushing all of her work on me," Tim added.

"Why? What's she doing?"

"She won't tell me. She's been blowing me off since... Well, since stuff happened."

"Were she and Kid Flash particularly close?" Cassie asked.

"I don't think it's that, so much as she's not ready to fill Nightwing's shoes. You heard what he told Aqualad, to go to Batgirl if he needed anything. Batgirl's not ready to be the go-to expert."

"So why do you think she's vanishing every night. Destressing?"

"I have no idea. I was always closer with Nightwing, I don't have the slightest idea what she could be doing."

Cassie nodded. "You know, just because she's destressing, doesn't mean that you can't too."

Tim looked up from the screen to see Cassie bent over him, her hands resting on the back of the chair, smiling down at him.

"Cassie, I _just _showed you the cameras."

"Oh, let them watch. Technically, you're off the clock." She bent down and kissed him.

**Palo Alto**

**July 8, 10:36 PM, PDT**

Jaime lay back in his bed, finally closing his eyes, ready to sleep. The day had been tiring, and he was exhausted.

There was a rap on the window.

'Jaime Reyes, you should see what that is.'

_Shut up, _he thought. The scarab was annoying.

'Elevated pulse and breathing indicate that the person outside your window is the Impulse.'

Jaime groaned, but stood and unlatched the window. "What?"

"Hey, hermano!" Bart was out of uniform, and smiled up at him with a shaky grin. "I- uh, I'm sorry if I woke you. Or maybe broke your window."

"The window's fine," Jaime said. "What do you need?"

"I... Oh, you know. Nothing."

Jaime frowned, about to slam the window shut and go to sleep, before he noticed that Bart's hair was mussed, as if he'd just been sleeping. His eyes were red, and his cheeks... His cheeks were damp with tears.

Jaime sighed, before he called, "I'll be down in a sec."

He walked downstairs, quietly avoiding his mother, and slipped out the door.

"What's up?"

Bart was pacing and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, this was so, totally rude of me for me to come over in the middle of the night like this, I was just really moded and I needed..."

Jaime waited for Bart to collect his thoughts. Finally, he made a guess. "Bad dreams?"

"Yeah."

Jaime had to admit, the Scarab had pointed out a lot of the symptoms of a sleepless night. It wasn't as if he had some special insight on Bart's mind. But finding out that he was right made Jaime feel particularly special.

"Yeah. For a couple nights now."

"Wanna talk about it? Preferebly somewhere else?" Jaime said, casting a worried glance over his shoulder at the house.

There was a sudden burst of wind, and he found himself being placed back onto his feet, in the park.

"Sorry. I just... I should have given you more warning."

"It's fine, man. So, what've you been dreaming about?"

"...Wally."

Of course. Watching his cousin die in front of him would have, understandably, been traumatizing.

"Is it just that day, or is there something else?"

"I just..." Bart swallowed thickly. "I guess I can tell, now, since it's not spoilers any more. Cause I guess everything did change. After my parents died, I was alone. I was a slave under the Reach for a while. And this one day, this woman came and rescued me. She was part of the resistance, and she took me away. She had super-speed, like me. Iris West."

"But wasn't that-"

Bart nodded. "Yeah, Iris Allen's my grandma. But this Iris was my cousin. She was Wally and Artemis's daughter. Took on the Impulse mantle after Aunt Dawn died. She was the original Impulse, you know."

Jaime bit his lip. This wasn't going in a good direction at all.

"She took care of me. Got me to a safe-zone. But, along the way, we had some trouble. She was hurt, badly, and I tried to help, I really, really did. But I was too slow. Oh, God, I was too slow again. Or, for the first time, or whatever. And Damian... You'll meet him later, if I didn't fuck that up too... He got me out of it, but she was dead. And I was just eight, I didn't understand, but Wally and Artemis had lost their daughter, and their grand kids were almost grown up and they had their dad anyways, and they took me in and they took care of me. Wally taught me how to use my super-speed. He helped me come up with the plans for the time machine. And he never blamed me for what happened to Iris. He always took care of me. No matter what happened, he always was there for me. And how do I repay him? I let him die." Bart furiously swiped at his eyes. "And now there won't be any Iris or Colin or Rachel, and Artemis is going to get older and marry someone else, and it's all my fault!"

"Bart, Bart," Jaime wrapped his arms around the red-head, "It's not your fault. There's no way you could have known. You had to save the world. You couldn't have foreseen it. And everything that happened at the pole... It happened too fast for you to have known what was going on."

"But that's not an excuse," Bart whimpered. "It's my job to be fast. And I did it too well. I went too fast for Wally."

"If you hadn't, the magnetic field disrupted would have destroyed the world. You had to save the world, Bart, you know that, Wally knew that, and he'd understand. Bart, he'd understand and he wouldn't want you beating yourself up about it because he loved you. You said it yourself, he took you in and raised you for five years, you don't do that for someone you don't love, family or not. He wouldn't want you to feel like this."

Bart pressed his face into Jaime's shoulder as he began to cry. Jaime gently rubbed his back, not knowing what else he could do. He couldn't bring Wally back. He couldn't send Bart back to his future where Wally and Artemis had raised him. He couldn't fix his friend's tragic childhood.

But he could stay and hold him.

**Gotham City**

**July 9, 4:26 AM, EDT**

Barbara sat up, disoriented. Her phone was sounding out a loud alarm. She fumbled for it. Dick reached for a light.

The two had opted to drink wine instead of coffee, and they'd fallen asleep on the sleek leather couch in the living room of Dick's apartment.

"I was supposed to be on duty two hours ago. Shit, shit, shit!"

She pulled out her phone and answered it. "I know, I know, I'm sor-" She stopped. "Wait, what? Okay, okay, I'm going. I'll be there."

"What's up?" Dick asked, running a hand through his messy hair.

"There's been a fire. At Royal University. I need to check it out."

"Oh." Dick rested his cheek against the couch. "Will you come back when you're done?"

"Can't, I have things," Barbara mumbled, pulling on her shoes. "I'll see you soon."

**Royal University**

**July 9, 5:13 AM, PDT**

Artemis and Barbara stood in two different groups of students. Posing as students was a good way to get information. No one would question a few more concerned young adults asking what the hell happened to their college campus.

Of course, just by looking around, Artemis could see that the fire had originated in the labs, and Barbara understood by the patterns of ash that the fire was caused by an explosion.

The fire marshall made an announcement confirming as much, and asked the students to please find somewhere to stay for the night.

The students cleared out and finally, only the two girls remained. Artemis flirted with the firemen while Barbara ducked into the shell of the building. She returned after several minutes and gave Artemis a thumbs up.

The blonde and the red-head both hurried off as well, claiming that their taxi had finally arrived. When they reached the zeta tube, Barbara launched into her spiel. "It's definitely the same type of bomb as the one at the airfield. If it wasn't the same people, they're both getting them from the manufacturer. But it's a lab we just visited, and our airfield, it's got to be the same guy."

Artemis nodded gravely. "Lovely. Now can I go back to bed?"

"What happened to the Artemis who once stayed up for forty hours straight just to prove she could?"

"She decided to get a degree," Artemis moaned, pressing a hand to her head. "You got me up at one. I'm tired."

"Fine, fine, I'll turn in the samples and make the report. I'll see you later?"

Artemis nodded and stepped into the zeta. No need to mention it yet, no need to tell anyone what she knew, or what she thought she knew, until she was sure.

Barbara took the zeta to the Watchtower.

**Watchtower**

**July 9, 6:30 AM, EDT**

"Hey!" Tim and Cassie broke apart to see Barbara glaring at them, hands on her hips. "What are you two doing? You're supposed to be getting into the USB!"

"No, that's your job," Tim said calmly. "I was doing you a favor. Anyways, it's locked up. I've tried everything, I can't get into it."

Barbara sighed and carried the bag of bomb remnants to the lab.

She dumped them onto a counter and began analysis, while Tim sighed and shook his head.

"Hey," Cassie tapped his nose. "You two should work on being more friendly. If Nightwing's not there to act as a buffer, you're going to have to find a way to get over this rivalry."

Tim kissed the palm of her hand. "You're so smart. Why are you so smart when I just want someone to listen and agree?"

"Because I'm never ever going to let you get away with bitching at me when you could be doing something to fix the problem."

Tim sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right."

"Keep in mind, I always am."

**Palo Alto**

**July 9, 5:42 AM, PST**

Bart and Jaime sat on the swings together. Neither had spoken a word in several hours. Jaime, because he had no idea what to say to his friend who believed he'd single-handedly murdered not only his father/grandfather figure, but his entire adopted family. Bart, because he'd just had a total break-down and masculine pride insisted that he pretend it never happened.

"You should head home, you don't want to get caught."

Jaime looked at Bart from under his eyelashes. "You know, I can't pretend to understand what you've been through. But you can talk to me, Bart. You know you can."

Bart nodded. The two swung for a couple moments. Bart finally looked up, to see Jaime staring at him. They both blushed and looked away.

"So, uh, I'm not quite sure about where in the timeline society is on this... Same-sex relationships?"

Jaime blinked. Of all the things Bart could have said, nothing could have surprised him more than that. "Well, uh, I guess I'd say that when it comes to public opinion, it's about half in favor, half against."

"And you in particular?" Bart's cheeks were turning pink.

"Oh, uh... I guess I'm in favor, if both people love one another," Jaime mumbled.

"That's good. Cause I think they're totally crash," Bart said quietly.

"Are you..." Jaime didn't finish his question.

Bart sighed. "It's hard to explain. People don't really use the same definitions in my future as they do here. So I guess the closest thing to what I consider myself to be is bisexual."

Jaime nodded. "Oh, okay." There was silence for a few more minutes before Jaime stood up.

"Yeah, it's getting late, or early, you probably should go before your parents realize-" Jaime cut off Bart's stream of words, kissing him. It was not anything explicit or graphic, Jaime knew the boy was thirteen... Almost fourteen... And although he had more life experience than most of the adult Leaguers, that didn't mean he would be ready for anything more than the average thirteen year old. The kiss was merely a prolonged peck, simply a meeting of mouths.

"So, what's this mean?" Bart asked when they pulled away.

"I guess it means I want to date you," Jaime said, looking down.

Bart grinned. "Crash."

**Yeah, so I ship Bluepulse. I almost forgot that I had to show them getting together, I watched the show just believing that they were a couple. Also, Greg has said that some characters are gay but it's a kids show so he can't say which (Which is ridiculous, because it's not like kids finding out what homosexuality is will do anything other than maybe make them a bit more accepting).**

**Also, on the topic of ships, things will go back and forth but I mainly ship RaquelxZatanna, BarbaraxDick, Spitfire, DickxArtemis, TimxCassie, Redcat, and a whole buttload of others. No telling what will be endgame with me.**

**So, lovelies, I don't like to whore for reviews, but I was disappointed. Hopefully adding character tags and a new, badass summary will make you more likely to read and review?**

**Also, I'm kind of on a roll, so look for another one later tonight.**


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